Moon Rose
by californiaucla
Summary: Jacob imprints on Nessie, Bella and Edward's daughter, in BD. But she doesn't know this. So what happens when she goes to school for the first time and falls for the charming Nate Coleman? What if you had to choose between your true love or your destiny?
1. Author

Author's note

Twilight was an extremely successful story. The ultimate love story, a modern day Romeo and Juliet. The four book series leaves you with a powerful impression.

We by now have all read _Breaking Dawn_, the fourth and final book in the series. And we all know it ends on a happy note. Though it was the end of one love story, it opened the door to a brand new one. Stephenie Meyer brought a possibility to Jacob and Renesmee's story. She opened the door. And now I'm going to find out what's inside.

Just to note, any character, concept, setting, or dialogue that appeared in the Twilight Saga is the product of Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended. This is just a project and experiment and not meant to be publicized.

For an extensive character breakdown, please look at my profile. It explains how the idea of this story came to be and a breakdown of all the characters.

What started as a project ended with a story to tell and a place to go when reality wasn't good enough.

~A choice could be as bright as the moon or as sweet as a rose. But even the moon is dark. And a rose can hurt.~

Please enjoy _Moon Rose_, _Jacob and Renesmee's story_.

If you had a choice, would you pick your destiny, or your true love?


	2. Chapter 1

_Jacob imprinting on Nessie in Breaking Dawn was huge because it meant a final end to his love for Bella. Bella and Edward can live happily ever after and Jacob finally has a soulmate. But Nessie was only baby when Jacob imprinted on her. She doesn't know anything about that. She doesn't know anything about Jacob's werewolf side. So, now at a physical age of sixteen, when she starts going to school, she meets Nate Coleman, a boy who's so normal and yet so special in every way. There's a choice now: Nate or Jacob? True love or destiny? _

**Chapter 1**

Clouds are an odd concept. Of course, I understood the concept of them. I understood that concept when I was only three months old. But they were peculiar. Big, puffy, white masses of air that just hung in the infinitive sky. They just hung. They moved when the wind blew but nevertheless, they hung. I had never understood why nature had come up with such a strange way to deposit precipitation. Of course, there were a lot of things I didn't understand.

Take for example what I was. When people look at me, what do they see? They see a girl. Quite beautiful but that was just a trait. They saw bronze, curly hair, big, brown eyes, two arms, two legs, two eyes, a nose, a mouth…

They saw a human.

Could I say that was true? Maybe. Almost. I _was _human. I was just…something else too.

A vampire.

Half human, half vampire. People could put me in the circus if they were allowed to find out why I was special.

It was frustrating sometimes. It was like I was one of my family but at the same time a constant temptation because of my human blood. They claim it's not difficult for them. My mother used to be human. They had to deal with a full force temptation almost constantly before her change into a vampire a few years back.

But I liked who I was. Just like I liked clouds. Clouds were a hard concept to understand but in the end, it made the sky a lot more fascinating to look at. And I think I made the vampire world a bit more interesting. Before my mother and I, vampires were just blood-drinkers of the night. Of course there were exceptions like my family and our family-friends up in Denali, but otherwise they were just _vampires_.

Things really went into a frenzy when my mother and father fell in love. Humans weren't supposed to know about the existence of vampires. But who can stop true love? It was that frenzy that triggered my mother's decision to change. That and her undying love for my father.

I am who I am because of that love. When they got married they, like any other newly married couple, had a honeymoon. Mom was still human. Dad was still a vampire. And they were still that way during my conception. Who would have ever dreamed that a vampire and a human…

It was hard for my mother. I remember crying when my family told me this story. The amount of pain I had caused her, the trauma I had caused for the entire family…

Vampire plus human equals half and half. And that equals me. I had a little of both worlds in me. My eyes were brown, not red or gold like other vampires. They were my mother's eyes before she changed. I had my father's odd hair color. I slept through the night, which was irritating sometimes because the rest of my familyis up and about, not needing any sleep. My diet was unusual but helpful at the same time. I preferred blood, so I was able to go on hunting trips with the rest of my family, but I was capable of eating human food, so I didn't look out of place when I ate lunch at school, not that I enjoyed it.

I had a heartbeat though it ran faster than a normal human's and my temperature was hotter than average. My skin was just as hard as any vampire's. All my medical records had to be forged by Grandpa Carlisle, who is a doctor. It wouldn't be a very pleasant visit to the doctor's, especially if he tried to give me a shot.

I laughed every time I thought of an situation like that. When I voiced it to the whole family, Uncle Emmett laughed hysterically. Actually, he was the only one who laughed. The rest of the family launched into another lecture about how our secrecy was no laughing matter and the traits we possess that could possibly expose us were nothing to joke about.

Being a half breed was helpful when living in a world of humans. At least I wasn't completely an outcast.

I heard Aunt Rose calling me from the main house. I looked back at the cottage where Mom, Dad, and I lived. It was a wedding gift from Grandma Esme. Everyone else lived in the main house but I liked this privacy that we had here. It was comforting and a lot easier to sleep, so to speak.

It looked like Mom and Dad weren't coming yet. They normally came with me anytime I had to go to the house, wanting to see what was going on. But they didn't come. Dad must've read their minds. More than likely, Aunt Rose and Grandpa Carlisle were probably going to try to get me to eat regular food again. I rolled my eyes.

"Mom, Dad, I'm going to the house," I said at normal volume although I was outside. They would hear me. Dad probably already knew.

"Okay, we'll meet you there," Mom said.

I ran to the house with blinding speed. I had also inherited the vampire supernatural powers. I had speed, strength, super sight and hearing, and my extra ability.

Some vampires, aside from their enhanced senses, had extra abilities. Dad could read minds, Mom could produce force fields and was immune to any vampire power that influenced the mind, Aunt Alice could see the future, and Uncle Jasper could control the emotions and feelings of people as well as feel how other people were feeling.

I could show people my memories through my touch. Any memory I wanted to show them. It was my way of communicating before I could talk. I still used that way of communicating even after I was capable of talking.

Grandpa Carlisle has a theory. He says that when humans are changed into vampires, they bring along their strongest traits into the next life. Grandpa brought his compassion, Grandma Esme, Carlisle's wife, brought her ability to love, Uncle Emmett brought his strength, and Aunt Rose brought her beauty and her…self-centeredness. She was a lot nicer now, ever since I was born. But Mom and Dad told me stories of how pig-headed and tenacious she was. I can hardly see Aunt Rose for what she used to be.

Dad says that he assumes he was sensitive to people's thoughts when he was human. He was a very good face reader. So that turned into mind reading when he became a vampire. He says Aunt Alice must've already been having premonitions of some sort before she changed. She spent almost her entire life in an asylum because of it. Uncle Jasper was a charismatic person before being a vampire and was always able to get people to listen to him. So emotions became his niche.

Mom was immune to vampire powers that dealt with the mind even when she was human. Dad could never read her mind. He still can't. Only when Mom forces her force field off of her can he read her mind. It's hard for her but she's working on it. When she got in trouble with the Volturi, the "vampire police", she was immune to people like Jane, who was able to create the illusion of pain, and Aro, who had a gift like Dad except he needed to touch the person.

She wasn't immune to Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper's gifts though. Aunt Alice was always able to see Mom's future. And Uncle Jasper was always capable of controlling Mom's emotions and know how she was feeling. Aunt Alice explained this to me. She can see Mom's future because it has nothing to do with her mind. She can see what happens but she can't see the reasons behind why it happens. With Uncle Jasper, he actually affects the body physically, not creates an illusion.

I don't think Grandpa's theory applies to me. I wasn't _changed _into a vampire. I was born one. But my gift had something to do with heredity. I had a different version of my father's gift and the opposite of my mother's. Dad can hear thoughts and I can show them. Mom can keep her mind to herself and I can show mine to everyone. I am the only one who can break through her force field. I guess it's because I'm her daughter.

I made it to the house in a matter of seconds. Aunt Rose was at the door.

"Hey, sweetie. Where're Edward and Bella?"

"Still at the house. Must be something important. So, why do you need me?"

"Well, Carlisle wants to try some more food with you."

I groaned even though I expected this. This was something else I didn't understand. Why was it so important to everyone that I enjoyed human food?

"It's not like I eat most of it at school. Why do we have to keep experimenting?" I asked.

"Carlisle wants you to try to enjoy it. Your kind is new to him. To all of us actually. And now that you're going to school he wants you to become as human as possible. He's just trying to make it easier for you, honey."

I walked into the house.

Uncles Emmett and Jasper were on the couch watching a football game with great intensity. Something happened and Uncle Emmett groaned while Uncle Jasper cheered.

"You set me up!" Uncle Emmett argued. "You knew this would happen!"

"How would I know this would happen? I'm not Alice," Uncle Jasper retaliated, his expression much too innocent to be taken seriously.

"She told you. And you knew I wouldn't say no to a bet. What the—oh hey Ness," Uncle Emmett said, quickly covering up his former words. Aunt Rose shot him a venomous look. She walked me away from them as quickly as she could.

"Fine. Take the money. It's not like I care for it anyway," I heard Uncle Emmett mutter.

"You may not care about the money, but you know you can't stand losing," Uncle Jasper said smugly.

"Not just losing but _cheating_."

"What do you mean cheating?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I mean."

Aunt Rose ushered me into the kitchen and closed the door behind us. I could still hear their bickering though the door. I saw Carlisle at the stove with Aunt Alice, stirring a pot of…spaghetti. I could smell the tomato sauce and the pasta noodles. Grandpa Carlisle turned around and smiled at me, a plate of pasta in his hands.

His appearance always struck me. He was handsome in every way though that was not what struck me. Beauty was already a vampiric trait that you grew used to. It was the fact I had to use the title of _Grandpa _with him. He was unlike any grandfather I had ever met. Oh sure, in the biological sense, figuratively speaking since Carlisle wasn't actually my father's father, he was my grandfather, but he looked young enough to be my father's older brother.

"Hello Nessie. Ready to try another dish? This one's bound to be good. Bella gave me the recipe." He smiled at me warmly and placed the dish on the countertop. I scowled and went over to taste the food.

I picked up my fork and started to pick at the food. I looked at Grandpa again. He was smiling eagerly, waiting for my reaction. I hated when he looked at me like that. I knew he never meant anything by that look but it always had me feeling guilty, like I was being much too stubborn about things. With a heavy sigh, I wound some spaghetti around my fork and put it in my mouth.

I chewed aimlessly, not actually tasting the food. I looked around. They were all still waiting for my reaction. I swallowed quickly.

"It's good," I said, my voice a bit monotonous. Alice's face fell and she sighed.

"Then it must be bad. Carlisle, I told you we should've put in less oregano. Oh, we should've had Bella make it."

"Wait, what are you talking about? I said it was good," I said, confused.

"But that's what you say about all the food we make for you. 'It's good'. And you seem so unenthusiastic when you eat. I guess this adds to the few things we're not good at," Alice said, slumping her shoulders. I laughed.

"I'm not lying or doing you any favors by telling you this stuff is good. This stuff _is _good. For a human."

"But you _are _a human," Carlisle interrupted.

"Right. But I'm also a vampire. Just because I can digest this food doesn't mean I have any patience for it."

"But what about in school when all the other kids ask why you're not eating?" Aunt Rose asked.

"You guys never ate when you went to school," I argued.

"Yes and the results were a bunch of rumors and people shying away from us, although it was good reason they did."

"Mom never stayed away," I muttered.

"Well, Bella was odd, even for a human," Aunt Alice said jokingly.

"But that's not the point," Carlisle intercepted. "The point is that just because you're half human doesn't take away the temptation of blood. You're still going to crave blood just like any other vampire. At least if you eat human food it will distract you from other scents. At least try."

At that moment Mom and Dad came in. Their hands were twined together and they look…odd, actually. They looked happy but it didn't reach their eyes. Everyone else seemed to notice. And everyone else probably knew the reason why. Except me. The tension was relieved when Aunt Alice clicked her tongue three times.

"Bella, do you remember the wedding present I gave you?"

"You mean the obscene monster closet full of nonessentials? Yes, I remember it," Mom said, a smile on her face.

"Do you know how to use it? Or do I need to show you. _Again_."

"Alice, I know perfectly well how to dress myself." Mom tugged the bottom of her cotton shirt self-consciously.

"Then why on _earth _are you dressed like that?"

I laughed, happy the conversation had turned away from me. There were many reasons I loved Aunt Alice. One of them was her tendency towards fashion. It was something she enjoyed, something she was good at, and something she took _very _seriously. I was her favorite dress-up doll, mainly because I almost never objected. I liked when she dressed me up for school and parties and things like that. It was always a fun routine. She would have a different outfit for me everyday and believed it was sinful to wear the same thing twice. She would do my hair and my makeup, pick out my accessories, and made sure I always had hair product with me, just in case.

Mom rolled her eyes every time she saw me.

"She's going there to learn, not to become America's Next Top Model", she would say.

Aunt Alice would argue back and say, "Well, why can't she learn and look good? It's not like it's a difficult task."

"For a vampire."

"_And _a human."

And the argument would go on and on. Alice's favorite person to critique was Mom. She never dressed to Alice's standards. The vampire change didn't spark any fashion interest with Mom, to Alice's dismay. And so everyday, this critique would go on until Alice finally caved and got bored. Mom never minded the critique. She was tolerant enough. Dad wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I think she looks beautiful. She always does." He leaned down and kissed her. They stayed that way for a while before I needed to cough and draw attention to me and the other people around us. When it came to love, my parents could be so oblivious to atmosphere and audience. Mom looked at me and smiled encouragingly.

"So how's the taste-testing? What's on the menu today?" she asked. I wound some more spaghetti around my fork and held it up.

"Spaghetti," I said in a flat tone.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad. It's the recipe I used when I made dinner for Grandpa Charlie."

Grandpa Charlie, unlike Grandpa Carlisle, _was _my biological grandfather. He was Mom's biological father. And he was on the verge of looking like an actual grandfather. He was human.

I didn't see him as much as I saw Grandpa Carlisle. I saw him about once a week. Grandpa Charlie still didn't know exactly what we were. And he refused to find out. He was smart enough to know that us Cullens weren't human and that Mom wasn't human also. But he didn't want any details. He just needed to know that Mom was still the same person on the inside.

I walked over to Mom and placed my hand on her cheek, showing her my memory of what it tasted like.

"Yum," she said. "It's times like this I wish I could eat food. This is even better than when I make it."

I rolled my eyes and placed my hand on Dad's face. He would understand better. His reaction satisfied me. He wrinkled his nose and looked disgusted.

"Honestly, what do humans _eat_? This stuff is vile smelling."

I turned back to everyone else and looked at them meaningfully, proving my point. Mom rolled her eyes.

"Don't listen to him, sweetie. He's never liked human food to begin with."

"It doesn't exactly look appetizing," Dad said,

"Well, it's no irritable grizzly," Mom said, quoting herself from the earlier days when Mom and Dad first became a couple. They both laughed at the remembered memory. Alice suddenly groaned.

"What's wrong Alice?" Dad asked.

"I can't see anything," Aunt Alice complained.

"Ugh, get the air freshener. I don't know about the rest of you but I'll need it," Aunt Rose said, her nose wrinkled.

When Aunt Alice couldn't see, it meant she couldn't see the future. And there were only two reasons Aunt Alice couldn't see. It was either because I was involved in the decision being made to change the future or a werewolf was near. And there was only one werewolf that would come at any given time.

"Jake's coming?" I asked excitedly.

"He'll come through the door in another minute," Aunt Alice said.

Jacob Black was a werewolf and my big brother in so many ways. Before I was born, he was Mom's best friend. He had a thing for my Mom. But when I was born he was able to understand that Mom couldn't be with anyone else but Dad. Jacob lived down in La Push, the Quiluete Native American reservation, about ten minutes from here. So he liked to come everyday to see what was happening here. As far as I knew, he's been there everyday since I was born.

He came through the front door, not needing to knock, and came into the kitchen. He was even bigger than I remembered. Jacob had always been huge but it always caught me off guard every time I saw him. I quickly ran to him and jumped on his back.

"Hey Jake!" I exclaimed. He laughed.

"Hey Nessie. What're you doing?" I rolled my eyes.

"Eating food," I said with disgust.

"Food? Oh, where?" he asked excitedly. He ran over to the stove and started eating the pasta right out of the pot.

"Wow, this is some good stuff. Who made it?" he asked.

"I did. And Alice helped," Grandpa Carlisle said, sounding proud of himself.

"Nice work, doc." He started eating again. Dad sighed.

"Jacob, I hope you realize that food is for Renesmee," he said. Jacob dropped the fork he was eating with.

"Oh. Sorry Ness. I hope you don't mind," he said with a sheepish grin on his face. I laughed.

"Go ahead. Eat it all. At least you'll be doing me a favor," I said, dismissing the food.

"Thanks." He looked at me a bit longer that normal before he went back to eating. The look was different. It wasn't right. Not for the Jacob I knew at least. It was a look of…longing? I let it go. It wasn't something that held my interest for long. Mom laughed.

"Jake, did you stop growing yet?" she asked. Jacob smiled.

"I grew just a little bit more from the last time you saw me."

"So how tall are you now?"

"Six-eight."

"Jake, I swear, if you grow anymore you're not going to be able to walk through the door anymore."

"I already have to bend," he said.

"But now you're probably going to need to crawl. Renesmee, stand next to Jake. I want to see the difference," Mom said. I rolled my eyes.

"Mom, call me Nessie," I said. It was my nickname ever since I was born four years ago. Mom was so stubborn about it. She refused to call me a name meant for the Loch Ness Monster. "And I'm not that short."

"How tall are you?"

"I don't know. Grandpa Carlisle didn't measure me yet."

Everyday, now only once a day, Grandpa Carlisle had to measure me. My growth wasn't that of a normal human. And neither was my mind. Though I have only seen four years, I have the physique of a sixteen-year-old girl and the mind of a qualified adult. When I was first born, I had to be measured daily as much as four times a day, I grew so fast. Things were now slowing down to the point where I have to be measured only once a day. And the results from the previous day were never differed by that much compared to the present day.

Immortalization was coming for me. Though I was half human, I still, for some unexplainable reason, was able to become immortal. It was around this age I was supposed to go through the change. When I was sentenced to die back when I was born, Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper brought another being like me back to Forks to prove to the Volturi, who had come to decide on whether I should live or not, that I wasn't the only one and that people like me were possible and not dangerous. The boy who had come had been immortal for a while but was frozen at a sixteen years old physical appearance. This was reassurance for my entire family now that we knew I wouldn't have a horrible ending.

I went and stood next to Jacob. The result was comical. Yesterday when Grandpa Carlisle had measured me, I was five foot three. I couldn't have changed that much. Jacob was more than a whole foot taller than me. I had to crane my neck just to see the underside of his eyelashes. He smiled down at me, that unusual look still in his eyes. It worried me a bit more than the first time but still not enough for me to think about it. Everyone laughed.

"Jacob, how do you plan on being with Renesmee if you have to bend just to see her face?" Mom asked jokingly. I knew she was kidding but something in her voice had me thinking. Why those choice of words? They were powerful and meaningful if you thought about them. I looked at Jacob to see his reaction. He was still smiling.

"Well, if bending is the only way to go, then, well, I'll bend all my life." Everyone awed at his answer but it had me panicking. What was everyone talking about? I didn't like jokes about subjects like this. When Jacob left, he gave me the same look of longingness. This time, it _did _hold my interest. But I hope I had the wrong idea. It would help make keeping my secret a lot easier. And not the vampire one.


	3. Chapter 2

_This, for some reason, took me a while to write. I had a little bit of writer's block. But once i got over it, it was fun. Nessie goes to school and meets her new friends. By the way, I don't know why I changed Nessie's first name. It'll probably support something that will come up later in the story. Her last name will become Cullen, don't worry. I don't know why I changed that either. It just seemed to fit. _

**Chapter 2**

One of the other things I couldn't understand was why my family was so intent on making me appear completely human. Especially in places like school. Mom wasn't so keen on sending me straight to high school to begin with. It was the worst and one and only fight I had had with her. It was a couple of months ago when Aunt Alice and I were driving home from a mini shopping spree in Port Angeles. We drove past Forks High School. There were a lot of kids out near their cars, talking and socializing. It made me feel envious for the first time in my life. I was never envious of my family for being real vampires but this was something else. I had only ever socialized with my family, never meeting anyone else except for vampire friends of ours.

"Aunt Alice? Why haven't you sent me to school yet?" I asked. Aunt Alice raised her eyebrows.

"You never said you wanted to go to school. Why the sudden interest?"

"I don't know," I said. I sighed. "It just seems weird not going. I mean, you all went."

"You mean me, Jasper, Edward, and Bella?" she asked, clarifying.

"And Aunt Rose and Uncle Emmett, yes."

Aunt Alice was silent as she thought for a minute. Then she spoke.

'Well, I guess we can talk to everyone back at the house. I mean, even if you're four years old, you are quite capable enough to handle school. Maybe we can start you off in Forks Middle School. You can get used to it and work your way up."

I grimaced at the thought of starting in middle school. It was hypocritical for me to do so considering I wasn't even technically old enough to go to kindergarten. But with the way I looked and the way I thought, I knew I was qualified for more.

"Um, Aunt Alice? I don't exactly think that middle school might be so great for me," I said slowly. She laughed.

"Well, what more can you do?" she asked, still chuckling. I glanced longingly out the window. We just passed the borders of Forks High School. Aunt Alice must've seen through her peripheral vision because she gasped. A vampire's eyes missed nothing.

"High school? Sweetie, I think you're overestimating your limits here. High school is its own world. You can't just jump right into it."

"Why not? You told me all about it. I think I can handle it," I argued.

"I don't think you understand what you willing to get yourself into."

"I know exactly what it is."

Aunt Alice sighed. It was hard for her to argue with me. It was hard for _anyone _to argue with me.

"Well, why don't we talk to everyone else first? See what Edward and Bella think of this. And then we'll make a decision. Is that alright?" I smiled and nodded. I could be a student in just a matter of days.

We reached home a few minutes later. Mom and Aunt Rose were sitting on the couch while Aunt Rose was flipping through the channels at an impossible speed.

"Rosalie, just pick something!" Mom whined.

"Nothing's on."

"Then just put something on. Don't destroy the remote."

Aunt Rose stopped at a channel in the mid-800s. It was a Japanese sitcom.

"Thanks Rose. Way to pick the one language I haven't learned yet," Mom said sarcastically.

"Well, I can understand it," Aunt Rose said smugly.

"Well, you can understand it," Mom mimicked under her breath. Aunt Rose pushed Mom playfully and Mom laughed. I ran to them and jumped in Mom's lap. She laughed and hugged me closer to her.

"Hey Renesmee. How was the shopping trip?" she asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Mom, how many times do I need to tell you not to call me Renesmee? Call me Nessie."

"Fine. So _Nessie_, how was the shopping trip. Did Alice buy you another closet full again?"

"Please, Port Angeles isn't even worth a whole closet full," Aunt Alice said as she sat next to Aunt Rose. "We only got a few things."

"How much is a _few_?"

"I found the guys in the garage. They're bringing in the bags."

Just then, Uncle Emmett, Jasper, and Dad brought in stacks of colored boxes and bunches of shopping bags. They dropped everything behind the couch and stepped back to look at the pile. Mom gasped.

"Alice! I though you said Port Angeles didn't have anything!"

"I know. They didn't. A quarter of this stuff is for me of course. Now if you'd let me take her to Los Angeles again…" Aunt Alice trailed off.

"No! I don't even know how you were able to shop in LA. It's sunny. And how do you even know there's going to be new stuff there?" Mom asked.

"Nighttime, of course. And Rodeo Drive always has new stuff," Aunt Alice said indifferently. Mom shook her head and rolled her eyes. Aunt Alice huffed.

"What do you have against clothes? I swear, it's like you're prejudiced." Mom laughed and then sighed.

"It's not that I don't like clothes. It's just that she could be doing so much more with her time." I took the chance to talk immediately.

"Speaking of which, Mom, Aunt Alice and I were talking in the car. I want to go to school." I stared at her carefully, holding my breath, waiting for her answer. Her eyebrows were scrunched lightly together as she took in what I just said. She looked at Dad. Dad just shrugged and motioned for her to proceed. She took a deep breath.

"Well, I guess you can. I mean, do you really want to?"

"Yes," I answered immediately.

"Then sure. Why not? I'm sure you'll like Forks Middle School." I shook my head out, absorbing what she just said.

"Wait, what?"

"Forks Middle School," she said slowly.

"I don't want to go to Forks Middle School."

"But I thought you said you wanted to go to school," she said, confused.

"Yeah, but not Forks Middle School." Mom laughed, just like Aunt Alice did in the car.

"Where else did you think you could go? High school?" she said jokingly. I looked at her meaningfully. She understood. And she gasped, just like Aunt Alice had.

"High school? No, that's definitely a no," she said flatly.

"But why not?" I protested.

"Because high school is something you go to after you've had experience with lower levels. Sweetie, high school is a world of its own."

"That's what Aunt Alice said," I muttered.

"And she's right. In high school, the kids are much more matured."

"Are you saying I'm not mature enough?"

"No, that's not it." She quickly backtracked. "I meant to say that these kids will be much more experienced then you are. They'll know things that you may not know and quite frankly, high school kids can be very rash sometimes. They can be jealous and just downright _mean_. You remember the story I told you about my friend Jessica? We used to be good friends. And then when your father and the rest of the family left Forks for most of that year," She paused to take a breath. Even after all these years, it still hurt for her to think about the time Dad and the rest of the family left Mom here in Forks and went away so that they wouldn't put her in danger. Dad looked at the floor, obviously uncomfortable. He still felt guilt thinking about it.

"When your father and the family left Forks I was a wreck. And Jess left me and started being really cold just because I was depressed. So do you see what I mean?"

"Well, not all of them are like that," I argued. "What about Angela? She never turned on you. She started being nice once you started talking to people again."

"Well, Angela's one of those rare people who are nice no matter what. But it's _rare_. Like I said, most people aren't like that."

"But I can handle it. You know I can." I stared her down. She looked a bit reluctant, like she hoping this conversation would end very soon.

"Well, that's just it. I don't think you _can_. I mean, it's not that you can't tough it out. I am one hundred percent positive that you can. It's just that you haven't met many humans before. You won't be able to understand the emotions that they go through."

"Oh, come on, Mom. Even you know you're just using that as a reason why I shouldn't go to high school. We have emotions too. It's not like that's just a human trait. Okay, fine, I haven't met that many humans but I've learned enough from all of you so I can blend in with them. Mom, you know I can do it."

"Renesmee, that's enough! Edward, tell her." Mom looked at Dad. He looked extremely uncomfortable and surprised; not knowing this argument would involve him too. Dad was normally extremely opinionated and liked to express them but when it came to me, decision making was completely up to Mom.

"Dad," I said pleadingly. I walked over to him and placed my hand on his face. I showed him the memory of kids socializing in the parking lot outside Forks High School. I showed him the longingness and envy I felt. His face was contorted as he felt the bad feelings I felt.

"Bella..." he started.

"Edward, don't start! You know as well as I do that she's not ready. Not for high school at least. Middle school is even a stretch."

"But, think about it. We're trying so hard to make her as human and as normal as possible. Sending her to school will be the best way to do that."

"I have nothing against sending her to school. But she wants to go to high school, Edward!"

"Well, what's wrong with that?"

"What do you mean 'what's wrong with that?' _Everything's _wrong with that. She's not ready. How many times do I need to repeat it?"

I could tell Mom was starting to fire up. It was unusual of her. Ever since her change she was always extremely happy. It was the exception of some kind of conflict that she started to lose her cool. The thought hurt a little. I never would have thought that a simple matter of going to school would be as big of a conflict as she was making it. Did she honestly think I was so inexperienced and immature to handle it? Dad seemed to be on my side though.

"Bella, look at her. Does she really look like someone who can go to middle school? She looks like she's sixteen years old!"

"Technically she's only four," Mom muttered under her breath. But a vampire's ears can miss nothing.

"Well, we can't exactly use technicality for her, can we? Bella, just because high school wasn't one of the best experiences you've ever had doesn't mean it will be the same for her. You were completely human. Maybe Renesmee will have it different."

"But what about you? You were completely vampire. And you all had just about the worst reputation when it came to socializing," Mom objected.

"Because they were afraid of us, Bella. And, personally speaking, it was our faults for giving off that impression even if it was for their own good. But Renesmee's not completely vampire nor completely human. She's both. Maybe that will be a good thing."

Mom looked at me with a look of defeat. I smiled. She sighed.

"Are you sure you want to this?" she asked.

"More than anything in the world, Mom." She sighed again and looked at Grandpa Carlisle.

"Carlisle, do you think it's ok?" Grandpa Carlisle thought for a moment before he spoke. That's the way he was. He thought about what he was going to say before he said it.

"Well, there are some things to be considered. Her medical files are going to have to be forged considering we can't send her to a real doctor. And we're going to have to forge some school transcripts. We could say she was home schooled. That's probably the easiest thing to do. Jasper can probably get that done for us, right?"

"No problem," Uncle Jasper said with a shrug.

"And we're going to have to change her name," Grandpa Carlisle finally said. Mom raised her eyebrows.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because Renesmee's a unique name. We don't want to make her too conspicuous. Plus, you all graduated from there just a few years ago. It will raise a few questions if it looks like you have a sixteen year old daughter in high school when you were eighteen only a few years ago.

"I'm still eighteen," Mom grumbled. Age wasn't Mom's favorite topic.

"Well, to everyone else, you're supposed to be twenty-two," Carlisle said softly. Dad put an arm around Mom's waist supportively.

"You'll always be eighteen and beautiful. That's not going to change," Dad said. Mom twisted her head to kiss his lips. I quickly rolled my eyes and cleared my throat to remind everyone that this meeting was about me.

"So does all this mean I can go?" I asked. Mom looked at me again and sighed. A sigh of defeat.

"I guess it does. But I'm still not convinced," she said stubbornly. I ran to hug her. She quickly took me in her arms and hugged me tight. I gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

"Don't worry, Mom. This is going to be the best thing for me. You'll see." I gave Dad a hug too. He hugged me tightly too and kissed my head softly.

"Thank you," I whispered.

"Anything and everything for you, love," he whispered back.

***************************************************************

I was enrolled as a sophomore at Forks High School. I was extremely surprised when Mom let me join in the sophomore class. I would've thought that if she was going to be forced into letting me enroll in high school she would've at least enrolled me in the lowest possible grade. But when I got my letter informing me of my teachers and schedule the last line read "We welcome you to Forks High School sophomore class." Mom looked at my surprised expression and laughed.

"Well, if you're going to be going to high school might as well go and be with people who actually look like your age. Those freshmen are some small people," she had said.

Along with my new grade, I was informed that my new name was now Carlie Talese.

_Carlie Talese_.

I wasn't a huge fan of the last name. I like Cullen too much. But I guess it was good enough. Aunt Alice had found it in a book she read and really liked it. As for my new first name, Carlie was my middle name. It was a fusion of the two names Carlisle and Charlie. My real first name was a fusion of Renee, my biological grandmother, my mother's mom, who resides in Florida, and Esme.

My first day of school wasn't any different than any other human's first day except I probably got a few more stares. I couldn't lie to myself. I _was _a bit noticeable. Vampiric beauty paired with some great clothes (courtesy of Aunt Alice) wasn't something you could ignore. Except for me, of course. I saw it everyday. I lived with it.

The first person I had talked to was a boy name Alex. There wasn't anything extraordinary about him and he knew it. He was a very subtle looking person. He dressed casually in an orange t-shirt and khaki pants but that wasn't enough for him. His blonde hair, spiked up in crazy directions, and his thick framed glasses that were slightly tinted were a definite give away of his attempt to become more noticeable. He struck me as the kind of guy who thought he was so brave because he approached the new girl. I was right. His friends, a group of boys, were at a locker, staring at us. When I caught one of the boys' eyes he looked away quickly and started to snicker. I looked back at Alex and raised one eyebrow (a talent and habit I had inherited from my father). He looked at me apologetically.

"Sorry about them," he said quickly. He glared at the boy whose eye I had caught. "We saw you walk out of the main office and realized we haven't seen you before. Are you new?"

He seemed nice enough. I gave him a flattering smile.

"Yes. I just moved here from New Jersey. I was home-schooled the whole time so public school's a first for me." This was my cover story. It was necessary. Once everyone finds out you're new they start to ask questions. And you have to give them answers if you don't want to look suspicious. My family had one when they went to school. Everyone thought they moved here from Alaska.

"New Jersey, huh? So I guess you're used to cold and stuff, right? 'Cause it gets pretty cold up here in Washington," he said.

The bell rang just then. I started walking down the hallway to my first class. Alex followed. Guess he had the same class. Either that or he was desperate enough to be late to his next class. It turned out he had the same class. Chemistry with Mr. Garner. It made me feel better to know I didn't have a stalker. I wondered how he knew I was in the same class though. I took my seat. He was quick to take the one next to me. I stared out the window. It was raining; a normal day in Forks. It blurred the sight of the forest surrounding the school, making it a distorted swirl of green.

"Cold I can handle. It's the rain that will take a little bit of getting used to." I had done my research on New Jersey. I made sure I knew the climate and how things ran there.

"Doesn't it rain over there too?" he asked.

"Not as much as here. We have sunshine for a good part of the year."

"What town were you from?" I quickly scanned my brain for a town I had seen on the map.

"Succasunna. It was a very suburban place." A remotely uninteresting town with no major significance. Not too many questions to ask, not that much to research.

"Oh," he said lamely, clearly bored with my answer. I raised my eyebrows slightly. What was with all the questions?

"What was home-schooling like?" he asked. I took a deep breath. This was starting to get a little annoying.

"Well, just like school. Except with no other students and no gym or after-school clubs."

"Ouch. That must've sucked. So, like, what did you learn? Was it normal stuff or was it----"

"If it's not rude of me, can I ask you why we're playing twenty questions? I mean, I'm flattered you want to learn so much but I was just curious," I said as politely and as nicely as I possibly could. Don't want to start of on the wrong foot. Alex started to look a little embarrassed.

"Well, I'm actually on the newspaper staff. Our next issue comes out next week but our deadline is this Friday and I didn't have a story yet. But you're interview should be great for the paper."

"My interview? As in you're going to write about me and put it in the newspaper?" I asked slowly. Alex sensed my sudden tension.

"Oh, well, are you okay with that?" he asked tentatively.

"Um, well, uh, sure. Why not?" I said, shrugging it off. How bad could it be? Alex beamed.

"Okay! Well, class is gonna start in like another minute so do you mind answering one more question?"

"Shoot."

"What brings you here to Forks?"

My heart stopped cold. I hadn't discussed that with my family. It was absurd that I didn't considering it was the most important aspect of my cover story. Everyone just told me that when my family was mentioned, I shrug it off and say that they're boring. But why am I here? Alex was a reporter. Obviously he was going to do a little bit of research. And what if he finds out that I lived in the Cullen house? That was bound to raise some questions. Everyone in this whole town knew who Carlisle was. And they knew the Cullen kids. What kind of rumors would be spread if they found out they got another kid? Everyone knew, or at least they knew the cover story, that Esme couldn't have kids. That's why she and Carlisle "adopted" all those kids….

Adopted.

"I was recently adopted by the Cullens. Esme came to New Jersey and brought me back to Forks," I lied flawlessly.

"You live with the Cullens?" Alex asked, suddenly extremely curious.

"Yes"

"Damn, those people adopt a lot of kids," he muttered under his breath, probably not wanting me to hear. But I did. And I couldn't help but feel a little defensive. But I was supposed to be human. So I decided to play deaf.

"I'm sorry. What?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "The Cullen kids just graduated from here a few years ago. They're all off at college now. I even heard one of them got married to another student who went here. High school sweethearts. Do you know which Cullen it was?"

"Yeah. It was Edward, my new, uh, adopted brother, I guess he is. I just think of him as my brother. And he married Bella."

"Nice. Well, it's really cool you live with the Cullens. Nice family. Though the kids didn't really have the best reputation. I talked to some of the seniors who were freshmen when the Cullens were here. I guess they were…what was the word they used? Intimidating, I think it was. But you don't seem like that. You do look like a Cullen though. I saw their pictures. Really pale skin, gold eyes, and they were all really attractive. You have brown eyes though. They're pretty. I really like them."

Was that a compliment? I guess. But most people didn't come and say you're eyes were pretty right out of the blue. I refused to believe it was flirting. I blushed and stared out the window again.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

"You're welcome. You look like one Cullen in particular, actually. I think it was Edward. His hair was the same color."

My mouth went dry. Did he suspect anything? Ugh, why is it that the first human I get to talk to is the one who's extremely insightful and resourceful?

Thankfully, the late bell rang and our teacher ran in holding a brief case. Alex completely abandoned his thoughts and turned his full attention to the teacher. I slowly took a deep breath.

Mr. Garner threw his briefcase onto his desk and ruffled some papers around like he was trying to look for something. After a couple of minutes he finally pulled out a sheet of paper with a look of triumph on his face. Some of the class giggled and he glared at them. He cleared his throat and stood in front of the class.

"I'm sorry I'm late class. I had an early meeting and got a bit, er, tied up."

"Ms. Carmichael," someone sang under their breath.

"Who said that?" Mr. Garner demanded. The class was silent. Mr. Garner took a deep breath and moved on.

"As I was saying, I got tied up. I apologize for being late. Before we start, we have a new student. Carlie Tay-leez, would you please come up here?" I quietly got out of my seat and walked up to the front of the class.

"It's Talese. Carlie Talese," I said, correcting him.

"Ms. _Talese_, then. Why don't you tell the class about yourself briefly. Mind you, I do mean _briefly_. We have things to do."

I turned to look at my audience. I got a few ogling stares from my new classmates, mostly from the males, but mostly from generally the entire class I got a lot of looks of curiosity.

"Um, well, my name is Carlie Talese, I'm from New Jersey but I was recently adopted by the Cullen family, which is why I'm here in Forks." The class started whispering.

"Another Cullen?"

"Well, she's not really a Cullen."

"_None _of them are actual Cullens."

"But she lives with them now."

"How many kids did they adopt now?"

"I think this is their sixth? And you know one of them got married so now the wife lives with them too."

"So how many people under one roof?"

"Total is nine."

"Good thing the doctor is loaded."

"Hey! That's enough! Stop talking. Carlie, thank you. You may take your seat," Mr. Garner said, dismissing me.

I walked back to my seat, my eyes glued to the floor. Why should I be embarrassed? I knew exactly why so many of us lived together. Just because no one else knew didn't make that reason any different. I felt better once I convinced myself. I took my seat and was able to look confidently at the teacher.

"Ok class. Today we will be discussing electron configuration. Now it looks difficult but once you understand what's going on you'll get the hang of it. Now if you'll open you're books to page 518…"

The rest of the class was monotonous but I learned a lot and was proud of myself. I was now grateful for my photogenic memory. It would help a lot considering we had a test on today's lesson next week. I walked out of the classroom and started towards English, my next class. I felt Alex follow me from behind.

"So, tough class today, huh?" he said, attempting to make conversation.

"Well, I thought I was quite interesting, actually," I said with a shrug.

"Really? So would you say chemistry's your favorite subject?" he asked.

"Back to twenty questions?" I asked with a smile.

"Is it really so obvious?" I giggled and nodded my head. His shoulders slumped.

"Damn, I gotta get better at that."

"Listen, why don't you wait till the end of the day and then you can write everything about my first day. That way I'll have more to tell you and you can interview me without all these classes getting in the way. I'll meet you after school, okay?" I saw Alex's face light up at the prospect of me spending after school with him.

"Sure. That'd be perfect. I'll stop by your locker."

"Absolutely."


	4. Chapter 3

_Introducing.....Nate Coleman._

_(I got creative when it came to him. If anyone asked me who my perfect boyfriend would be, it would be Nate :D)_

**Chapter 3**

I left English and started to go to lunch. My new friend, Michelle, was next to me, discussing the book list I had just received.

"…and we just finished reading _The Glass Castle_. It was an autobiography. We have a lot of those this year. Seems like Ms. Tassel has a thing for them. Actually, speaking of things, Ms. Tassel has a thing for a lot of things. Now don't get me wrong or anything; I heard this secondhand. But between you and me, I heard she was actually _with _one of the teachers here. Now is that scandal or what?"

I looked at Michelle and smiled. She was the type of girlfriend a person needed when that person didn't feel like talking and needed something to fill up the silence, though her gossip was never really "scandalous". I could tell just from the hour I had just spent with her. Also, with her mindless gossip, I could learn a lot about the students here.

Michelle was also kind of pretty. She didn't have a traditional beauty but she was generically known as pretty. She was blonde and slender and dressed just like every other high school girl here; in tight-fitting shirts and jeans. She was one of those girls who strived to be noticed and pretended to be completely indifferent. She constantly had her phone in her hand, waiting for a text that would come every three minutes.

She was popular too. People tried to walk next to her, said hi to her in the hallway, and some tried to act like her best friend. She didn't pay much attention to any of them but she did give them a smile before turning back to her phone. She, however, paid much attention to me. She looked attentively at me every time I spoke and even ignored the wave of texts she was receiving just so she could listen to me. She laughed every time I said something that was appropriate to laugh at and she walked next to me all the time. It was almost as if she was trying to show everyone that I was her friend and no one else's.

We walked into the cafeteria together and Michelle guided me to a table where all her friends were sitting and waiting for her. I sat down quietly in the chair next to where she was sitting and she sat down and threw her bag on the chair on the other side of me. She immediately turned to her phone and answered all her unanswered texts she ignored while she was with me. I looked at the other girls and smiled tentatively. They first stared at me, not sure what to do, and then looked at Michelle, waiting for guidance. Michelle noticed the silence and put her phone down.

"Oh, sorry. Guys, this is Carly. She moved here from New Jersey and lives with the Cullens. Carly, this is Natty, Tasha, and Sam." Michelle gestured aimlessly towards the girls who were sitting at the table with us, who were staring at Michelle with admiration. Again, I smiled hesitantly at them. This time, though, they knew exactly what to do.

"Hi Carly. So nice to meet you. You have such pretty hair," said the girl named Tasha.

"Um, thank you," I said with a smile.

"What's it like living with the Cullens?" asked the girl named Sam.

"Uh, well, I've only been living with them for, um, a couple of weeks so I can't tell you much. But so far it's been exciting."

"Especially with all those hot guys," sighed the girl named Natty.

"Ew, Natty! Those are her new brothers. Show some respect; you can't talk about them like that. I mean, unless she feels the same. Do you?" she asked carefully. I laughed.

"Don't worry about it," I said in between giggles. "They're definitely all very attractive but they're way too much like family already to think about them that way."

"But did you? I mean, when you first met them?" asked Michelle.

"Well, not really. I think I was more grateful to the fact that I was being adopted by an incredibly giving family." Surprisingly enough, I didn't feel uncomfortable talking about my family and knowing how the other girls felt about them. I knew it would come up; how could it not?

"Well it's too bad they're all not single," Sam said with a frown.

"Yeah, but they're all with each other," Tasha snickered.

"So?" I said, a bit more defensively than I wanted to. Tasha didn't seem to notice.

"So, it's _weird_. They're all like that except for the youngest one. What was his name?"

"Edward," Michelle answered immediately between bites of food.

"Right. Edward. And he married one of the students here. What was her name?

"Bella Swan," Michelle answered again.

"Chief Swan's daughter?" Natty asked.

"Yep." I stared at Michelle. She looked completely indifferent to all her knowledge.

"You know a lot about the Cullens," I said to her. It wasn't a question. She was about to answer when Alex came by.

"Hey Carly. You mind if I sit here?" he asked.

"Ew," Michelle said. Alex ignored her but I looked at her in shock.

"Michelle!" I exclaimed. She was still texting on her phone. She noticed I was still staring at her and looked up.

"What?" she asked. I rolled my eyes and smiled at Alex.

"Of course you can. You can take, um, oh, there're no more seats," I said. I looked at him apologetically.

"That's ok," he shrugged. "I can, um, well…" He looked around. I didn't see any of his friends. Michelle looked up and exhaled sharply.

"Oh, fine. Guys, go sit somewhere else," she said to Tasha, Natty, and Sam. They looked outraged for a moment. Tasha was about to speak when Michelle gave her a look. Tasha immediately backed down and the three girls stalked off to find another table.

Michelle's power was intimidating. I honestly didn't understand why she had this power. But at the same time, I could tell that underneath the indifference and power, she was actually a good-hearted person. It made me feel better knowing this information. Alex sat down and began eating.

"So, what were we talking about?" he asked conversationally.

"Before we get to that, Michelle? Why did you tell them to go away?" I asked, a bit surprised. Michelle looked confused.

"I thought you wanted the dork to sit with us," she said. Alex rolled his eyes.

"Michelle," I said warningly.

"Ok, _fine_. I though you wanted _him _to sit with us," she improvised. I sighed.

"I'll take it for now. But I thought they were your friends."

"Them?" she asked, pointing in the direction they walked off.

"Yeah." Michelle scoffed.

"They're not my friends. They were probably more than surprised to see I was sitting with them, though they'd never show it."

"Um, ok," I said. It was something I really didn't feel like understanding right now. Alex cleared his throat, clearly feeling ignored.

"So, uh, _before _that, what were we talking about?" he asked.

"Well, I asked Michelle how she knew so much about the Cullens and she was about to answer me," I said, looking at Michelle again.

"Well, I've always been really interested with them. Ever since last year when I first came to Forks High School. I was in the halls one day and heard a couple of the seniors talking about them. They were freshmen when the Cullens were seniors. They weren't exactly being nice and instead of asking I went to the office and did a little research.

"Everyone in Forks knows who Dr. Cullen is but not everyone knew the Cullen family that well unless they went to school with them. I didn't find a lot. The school records showed the standard stuff. Names, birthdays, address, guardians, and past schools. Their school transcripts were interesting. Perfect grades, perfect behavioral records, etc. I mean, _no _one is like that. But the thing that _really _got me interested were their pictures. It was just their school ID pictures but still. I've never seen anyone who looked so…_perfect_. They were so pretty. _And _they had perfect school records.

"But when I extended my research and looked on the Internet I didn't find anything. So I was stuck using what I have here in Forks. I guess you could say I became kind of obsessed. And when Edward got married I did some research on his wife. Bella wasn't that interesting. Normal grades, normal school records, normal background. But the Cullens were my obsession for a while. I guess you could call me an expert of some sort." She just shrugged and looked at her phone again. Alex was in awe. I was a bit impressed. I would have never guessed that a person like Michelle would do such extensive research on one family.

"Michelle, that's really impressive. Have you ever considered joining our newspaper staff?" Alex asked hopefully.

"Um, I don't walk with your…nerd herd," Michelle said, disgusted with the idea.

"You mean the newspaper staff?" Alex asked flatly.

"Sure." Alex exhaled sharply and turned to me.

"So I really couldn't wait until after school and we have another twenty minutes before lunch gets over so can I get started on your interview?" I picked at the grotesque meal in front of me that was my lunch. Rice with teriyaki chicken. Even for a human it was repulsive. I attempted to take a bite. I could've and _would've _gagged if I wasn't aware of my two friends in front of me, waiting for my answer. I caught myself and managed to choke down the food. I took a big gulp of water, washing out the taste (water was okay for me), before I responded.

"Sure Alex. What else do you need to know?" I asked politely.

"Wait, what interview?" Michelle interrupted.

"I'm interviewing Carly for the newspaper," Alex answered back.

"Oh," Michelle said, clearly uninterested. She turned back to her phone. Alex was digging through his bag, finally taking out a cluttered folder. He opened it and threw it on the table.

"So, I've prepared some questions that I came up with last period. Just answer them as best and as thoroughly as possible. Got it?"

"Got it."

We continued our game of twenty questions that Alex had started when we first met except it was definitely more than twenty questions. He asked me again about how I got adopted by the Cullens, what my life was like in New Jersey, what I liked, what I disliked, and so on and so forth. I started to get bored after a couple of questions though I would never admit that to Alex. He seemed so excited and eager to know more about me and I answered as politely and as enthusiastically as I could. When he turned to his paper to write down some details he had missed while talking, I started to let my eyes drift and started to look around the cafeteria. The lunch hour consisted of all sophomores so I was looking at my new classmates. I took in their faces and actions, hoping to see some of these familiar faces in my next classes. I continued to look around until I saw a face that really caught my attention.

He was handsome. Not the kind of handsome that I was used to in vampires but handsome for a human. Though he was sitting he looked to be very tall. I'd find out soon enough. His face was intriguing. He had a mop of straight brown hair that came down over his face and swept to the side, obscuring a little bit of his piercing blue eyes; they were almost hypnotic, electrifying. He had a straight nose, a strong, sure chin, and he looked very clean. I laughed slightly to myself when I thought of that. He looked slender but at the same time muscular. I was snapped out of my gaze when Alex started banging on the table.

"Carly. Carly! You still there?" he asked, waving a hand in front of my face. I shook my head and looked at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Alex. Just kind of…daydreaming."

"Dude, can you not bang the table like that?" Michelle asked, irritated.

"I'm sorry. I think Carly kind of zoned out there," Alex explained.

"Again, sorry. Hey, Michelle. Who's that guy over there?" I asked, still staring at the nameless boy. At the word _guy_, Michelle immediately became interested. She followed my gaze until she found my view. I could almost hear her smile.

"That's Nate Coleman. Just about the hottest guy in this school. Mega popular. He's your classic popular boy. Captain of the basketball team, good grades, incredibly sweet to everyone he talks to, funny, plays guitar, and every girl in this school wants him. You'd think he'd be a playboy or something but he actually doesn't date that much. He's never even had a girlfriend. Only a couple of girls are lucky enough to say that they've been out with him and all of them were completely happy up until the part when they find out that he doesn't want to be with any of them."

I continued to stare. He was sitting with a bunch of his friends. They were all good looking too but he was clearly the most handsome. He didn't seem to have a girlfriend. And he clearly wasn't one of those people who would scope out the area, looking for another victim. I noticed he laughed a lot. It made me smile. He looked incredibly irresistible when he laughed. He started to look aimlessly around the cafeteria. He happen to look in our direction and caught me staring at him. At first he looked confused, probably wondering why I was staring at him. Michelle immediately looked away and started to giggle. I continued to stare at him thoughtfully. He then smiled softly at me. He looked mildly interested. I was new. He didn't know me. I still couldn't bring myself to look away. Alex finally banged the table again and Michelle shook my shoulder.

"What the hell are you doing?" she asked, horrified for me.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"You can't keep staring at him, _especially _if he sees that you're staring at him. He even smiled! That's a dead give away."

"I hate to agree with her but she's right," Alex said matter-of-factly. "Guys like Nate Coleman take something like that to offense. Okay, well, not really _offense_, but he'll assume that you're interested and he'll be kinda freaked that you're being too forward too soon."

"Unless you _are _interested," Michelle said meaningfully.

"I'm sorry. My body just kind of froze. And no I'm not interested! I've known he's existed for all of three minutes! How can I be interested?" I asked hopelessly. Michelle shrugged.

"Love works in strange ways. You live with proof of that, what with the Cullen match-making and everything." I wasn't sure if I should take that as an insult to my family or not but I was too preoccupied to worry about that. Nate was on my mind and I had a surefire feeling it was going to stay that way for the rest of the day.

The bell rang and everyone started to get out of their seats to go to their next class. Alex started putting his things away.

"So we'll pick up this interview after school?" he asked.

"There's more?" I accidentally said. Alex didn't notice. Either that or he was really good at ignoring it.

"Of course. I have to write two whole pages," he said. Michelle grabbed my arm.

"C'mon. You can deal with the page boy later. We have to get to class."

"That wasn't even mean!" Alex yelled as we exited the cafeteria.

"See? Hanging out with you is dimming me down," she yelled back. We walked to our next class, Geometry, and took our seats next to each other. I quickly introduced myself to the teacher and she gratefully let me go without a formal introduction to the class. Just as the teacher was starting her lesson another student walked in. He handed her a slip of paper, saying it was from the main office, before walking out. The teacher quickly read the note before turning to me.

"Carly Talese, you have been transferred to the Geometry Honors class. Please collect your things and report to room 618. That will be your class from now on."

Michelle looked at me wistfully. This would be my only class without her. I quickly put my things in my bad, said a quick goodbye, and went to my new class. I knew this was going to happen. Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper made my "home-school" grades a bit _too _good.

I walked to the room I was instructed to and opened the door slowly. The teacher had just started to teach her class. She stopped writing on the blackboard and looked at me when she heard the door creak open.

"Um, I'm sorry. My name is Carly Talese. I was transferred to this class," I said though it sounded more like a question. The teacher waved me in. I walked in and went to the desk. She handed me a book.

"This is your textbook. The only seat available is next to Mr. Coleman, so if you please." She gestured me to the desk that was right next to Nate.

_Nate_. That was such a pretty name. For a guy, at least.

I slowly and quietly walked to the empty desk. The desks were organized into tables that were obviously meant for group work. Nate pushed his books aside to clear the desk I was to sit at. I sat down, being very careful to stare at the floor. I could feel his vivid blue eyes on me. It was almost scorching. Ms. Vanderwell, the teacher, began teaching again.

"So as I was saying, we will be doing proofs today. I want you to work with your partners and prove that the ten pairs of triangles I have given you are congruent." The class started to take out their pencils and started on the worksheet we received. Nate cleared his throat.

"So I guess you're new. I haven't seen you around before. Well, except at lunch." He laughed. I continued to stare at the floor, blushing bright red with embarrassment. I could see from the side that Nate was holding out his hand. "I'm Nate Coleman." He waited for me to look up. I couldn't stare at the floor forever. I took a deep breath before I looked at him.

This was the first time I was able to look into his eyes and know that it wasn't going to be awkward. His eyes took my breath away. They weren't just blue. They were a strange shade of light green too. They reminded me of the ocean; a perfect blend of turquoise and sea-foam green. They even sparkled like the ocean!

_My own, personal ocean_, I thought to myself. Well, he wasn't mine. And unfortunately, it was going to have to stay that way if I had any chance of keeping my life just as it was right now. I gave him a friendly smile and took his hand. He shook it. His grip was strong and sure. I could only imagine what my hand felt like. It was already melting under his. I wondered if he noticed the extra heat my body had. I wondered if he noticed that I was still holding his hand. I let go immediately.

"Carly Talese. Nice to meet you." I noticed his eyes sort of crinkled at the ends. It showed he smiled a lot. That made me happy. Anyone who looked so beautiful while smiling should never be denied that. It was almost sinful.

"Carly," he repeated to himself. I only noticed how nice his voice sounded. It was boyish but a bit husky at the same time. It almost made me…swoon? I wasn't sure. "Well, Carly, since we're going to be partners for the rest of the year, I need to know something about you. Tell me something. All I know is that you live with the Cullens now."

"Where did you hear that?" I asked, confused.

"People have been talking about you. I only know what I heard in the hallways," he said with a shrug.

"So you know that part. Well, I hate rain. I love the sun. And the ocean," I said. That wasn't entirely true. I didn't _hate _rain. It was just a bit annoying sometimes. I was the only one in my family who could be exposed to the sun without causing a riot. Everyone else would glitter. All vampires did. I, however, just had a subtle glow that wasn't too conspicuous. So when I was exposed to sun, I loved it. It was such a great feeling. It made me feel…almost natural. Nate nodded. As for the ocean, that was actually true even though Nate's eyes were probably the trigger to mention that. I've never been to a beach where the water was actually blue and pretty and the weather was warm and palm trees swayed. The only beach I've ever been to was First Beach in La Push whenever I went to see Jacob and Billy and the rest of the Quiluete werewolves. That beach was beautiful in its own way, with magnificent gray waters and stones of every color on the actual beach part.

"I know what you mean. I lived in California until I was in seventh grade. I hated it here when I first came. It was too grey. And green. But my mom always used to have a saying that made me appreciate the rain a bit more."

"That's stupid," I muttered. My eyes got wide. I was starting to get nervous. I could feel it. Nate raised his eyebrows.

"Excuse me?" he asked. Words started to bubble out of my mouth.

"To like rain. And the fact that your _mom _made you like it here? Way to stand for yourself." I looked away, horrified. What was I doing? More importantly, what was I _saying_? I've never felt nervous like this before. Was this my reaction? To insult other people? Especially those who didn't deserve it. Nate wasn't sure how to respond. He was too much of a gentleman to say something back but something in his perfect, oceanic blue-green eyes told me that I had hurt him. I felt awful. Especially since I didn't mean a word I said.

"Ok," he said slowly. He looked at his worksheet. He had only done one of the proofs. I'd done none. "I think we'd better get started on these. We only have ten more minutes before she checks them." He started working. He never looked at me and he never spoke. If I had a question, he would answer me very politely and formally.

When Ms. Vanderwell collected our papers, she gave us the rest of the period to talk and do our homework but we weren't allowed to leave our seats. She thought was being nice. I would've loved this opportunity to have an excuse to stare at his piercing eyes while listening to his boyish voice talk about California, beaches, oceans, and other things that I loved but never saw except in pictures.

When the bell rang he gave me a polite goodbye and went to join his friends. I saw that he _was _tall. He didn't even spare a moment to look back. In all of thirty seconds I lost any chance of getting to know him.

So much for my ocean.


	5. Chapter 4

_It took me a while to write this too but I thought I did a pretty good job. Some of my best lines are in this. And it was kind of sweet with the whole bonding between Nessie and Edward. Give your feedback please!!_

**Chapter 4**

I ran home since I missed the bus. Alex's interview took longer than I expected. Longer than I'd _hoped_. I knew that he knew something was wrong with me. I was grumbling the entire time he was questioning me. I couldn't blame myself, though. I was infuriated.

I couldn't believe I had said those things! What was wrong with me? How could _that _be the way I overcame nervousness? It was perfectly fine to get nervous. I couldn't care less about that. But my reaction was…_sickening_. It made me nauseous. Even more than the school lunch had made me.

I stormed inside the house unhappily, completely forgetting that I lived in a houseful of vampires who clearly had nothing better to do than wait for me to come back and see if sending me to school was the biggest mistake ever made. That would explain why I was unexpectedly assaulted by questions from my family and immediately engulfed into my mother's arms.

"Oh, Renesmee, you're safe!" my mother exclaimed, her voice saturated with relief. I rolled my eyes.

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be? And I told you to call me Nessie." Mom was hugging me a bit tighter than was healthy for me and the immediate stiffening of my body told her that. She let me go at once. I started towards the backdoor, hoping I could escape to our house in the woods, dramatically lock myself in my room like any angst-ridden teenager would, and torture myself with the memory of Nate's perfectly blue eyes touched with hurt. It was what I deserved. But that wasn't going to happen.

"Wait, Rene---Nessie," she improvised. "Where are you going? You have to tell us something. We've been waiting all day. But first thing first," she said, suddenly sounding severe, "why were you late? The bus came two hours ago." I was suddenly aware of the audience I had, all staring at me expectantly. Aunt Rose was sitting on the stairs, Uncle Emmett leaned against the kitchen door, Aunt Alice and Uncle Jasper were sitting on the floor behind the couch, Carlisle and Esme were standing by the piano, looking worried, and Dad just came to Mom's side. I sighed dramatically.

"It's nothing, Mom. This guy wanted to interview me for the school newspaper so I had to stay after school. New student, remember?" I pointed to myself. Mom's face was suddenly extremely worried.

"An interview? Oh no, what did he want to know? Did he ask you about your family? Where you were from? What schools you went to? Oh, I knew these kids would get nosy. Edward, see? This is why I didn't want to send her. Ugh, what are we going to do now? Ness, what did you tell them?" Mom looked at Dad anxiously. I was about to reassure her that everything was alright when Dad started laughing. Mom's glare was murderous.

"Edward, this isn't funny! No one else is laughing. Everyone else seems just as worried as I am!" Dad continued to laugh. He finally put an arm around Mom's waist.

"You're very cute when you get mad like that, especially for unnecessary reasons. Nessie was actually very smart. Adoption, huh? Now, where have I heard that before?" Dad smiled crookedly at me, a smile he only smiled when he was truly amused or happy. Mom looked at me, confused.

"You told them you were adopted by us?" she asked.

"Not adopted by _you_," I clarified. "Adopted by Carlisle and Esme. Now everyone in Forks High School knows I am officially the Cullen's little sister."

"Brilliant," Uncle Jasper whispered. He got up from the floor and walked over to us. He was smiling. "I can't believe we didn't think of that. And _we _should know best. Nessie, what exactly did you tell them?"

"Just that Esme took me a couple of weeks ago from an orphanage in New Jersey and brought me back here," I said, making my explanation very brief. I wanted to leave. Uncle Jasper nodded. Uncle Emmett snickered.

"I bet there was a lot of talk about this recent adoption. 'Not another Cullen'," he imitated under his breath. I laughed once humorlessly.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," I said dully. Mom frowned.

"Nessie, what's wrong? You should be excited and bouncing off the walls. Did something happen? Did someone say something? Tell me, because we need to know. Did someone get suspicious?" she looked concerned. I was already on the verge of breakdown because of what happened with Nate. This last question put me on edge. I cracked.

"No, Mom, nothing happened! Why do you always have to be so paranoid? No, no one got suspicious!" Mom looked shocked, as did everyone else. Dad looked calm, which was incredibly humorous and annoying in this situation.

"Nessie, sweetie, I'm just trying to help. You looked on edge ever since you came home. And if someone got suspicious, that's something we need to know," she said calmly, trying to soothe me. But I was far from soothed.

"Why mom? You don't trust me? You don't think I'm capable of keeping our secret for _one _day?" I asked, my voice getting louder.

"No! God, no! I'm just trying to find out why you're so upset." She looked truly shocked now. And I was on fire.

"Then ask me! Don't keep trying to guess. And stop trying to make me feel better because you're not really doing a good job." I stormed out the back door and ran in full sprint to our house in the woods. I felt awful about what I had said. I heard Mom talking as I sprinted.

"What did I say?" she asked hopelessly.

"Don't worry. I don't think it was you," Dad said, soothing her.

"Do you know something, Edward?"

"Yes. But Nessie will tell you about it when she's ready. The last thing we want to do now pressure her…"

I finally reached the house and went inside. My room was right across from my parents. I didn't make a show of throwing myself on my bed and crying like I felt like doing. Instead, I only had enough energy to close and lock the door and slide onto the floor, my back to the door. I wrapped my arms around my knees and laid my head on the door.

If I was able to cry, I probably would now. That was one of the downsides to the vampire side of me. You felt all this emotion and there was no way to let it free. Humans have tears to free excess happiness and sorrow, whether it was silent tears or sobs. I had nothing. My chest was filled with aches of guilt and embarrassment and yet I felt…_hollow_.

I was breathing but it felt like hyperventilating. My body was calm but it felt like I was convulsing. I wanted to find a way to escape this feeling but I was _still here_, feeling just as awful.

Every thought of Nate brought back the aching feeling in my chest and every memory of the hurt in his Pacific blue eyes brought back the feeling of hyperventilation and convulsion. It felt like every good feeling I had today, feelings of happiness, acceptance, friendship, and curiosity, had burned to ash and blown away just because of one moment of hurt. And that one moment had caused me to be here, tearing myself apart, instead of being with my family and happily gloating to my mother that I hadn't messed up. Almost.

There was a quiet knock on my door. I silently groaned to myself. I should've known she would've come. That was Mom. If she believed it was her fault, she would stop at nothing to make that person feel better again. She felt it was her responsibility. And sometimes it didn't always work out. Like with Jacob.

Jacob loved Mom. And he wouldn't stop trying to make Mom fall in love with him. Jacob was constantly hurt because while Mom was completely in love with Dad, she kept trying to include Jacob in her life. And that was a constant reminder that Jacob could never get what he wanted. In the end, Jacob was hurt and Mom was in love with Jacob _and _Dad. Mom had always picked Dad and I never understood where Jacob stood after that. He always seemed completely at ease in front of Mom and he and Dad were almost like best friends. What bothered me was that no one, especially Jacob, showed any of that past emotion. It was as if whatever had happened never left a scar. Jacob still didn't have a soulmate. That would be the only way he could ever heal from what Mom did to him. I highly doubted he just accepted what had happened and let it go. That was so unlike Jacob. There was another cause. I just didn't know what it was.

The quiet knock sounded again. I groaned, this time out loud, and hit the floor with my palms.

"Mom, can you leave me alone for just _one _moment of your existence?" I asked. I touched my forehead to my knees. I was starting to get dizzy.

"She's trying. But I'm not. Can I come in?" It was Dad's voice. I lifted my head. I was surprised to see that he was here. Unlike Mom, Dad understood when people needed their space.

"Um, I really don't think that's a good idea," I said unsurely. I was far from composed and my appearance and especially my thoughts would worry him unnecessarily.

_My thoughts_.

Of course. He read my mind while I was arguing with Mom. And he was here to talk about my unorthodox attraction to Nate. He knew everything I thought about him. He knew how I felt about Nate's voice, his kindness, and probably had an _extremely _vivid picture of his eyes.

I laughed to myself. It was so human. So _teenager_. A dad coming to talk to his daughter about her new crush, saying that the boy is too old, not good enough, or that the daughter was too young, she should be careful, or just that the dad would feel a lot better if the daughter didn't have a boyfriend. Except in my case, the problem was the boy was human. I heard Dad laugh under his breath. But then he was back to business.

"Well, Ness, I really think we should talk. I could break down the door if you don't feel like opening it but it might hurt Esme's feelings if we break the house she gave us." I could hear the teasing in his voice. I sighed.

"Give me a minute," I said. I quickly got up and went over to the mirror. My face was horrendous. It was beautiful in every way possible for a human's eyes but for a vampire's, the eyes were too tight and the face in general looked stressed. My eyes refused to relax and my face was permanently hardened. I massaged my cheeks to get some blood flowing into them and tried to unscrunch my eyebrows. I unlocked the door and walked to my bed.

"Alright, come in," I said. I tried to sit still on the edge of my bed but my body yearned to curl up on the floor.

Dad came in. He looked calm at first but when he saw my face he instantly came to my side and wrapped his arms around me. His ice-cold arms made me shiver but they were comforting. I finally gave up trying to appear normal and left my rigid pose. I laid my head on his shoulder and stared blankly at my dresser. Dad stroked my hair soothingly. I instantly started to feel better. After a minute or two he let go of me.

"So do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked quietly.

"Why? You already know about it," I said, my voice somewhat muffled. Dad laughed once softly.

"Yes, but I thought you might want a say in your own version." I stared at the floor, shaking my head in disgust for myself.

"I'm just so mad at myself. I couldn't believe the words coming out of my mouth. And I couldn't stop them, either. It was awful." I shut my eyes. My chest started to ache again.

"Nessie, you got nervous. That's nothing to be ashamed about. Underneath all the vampire cravings, the human feelings we used to have are still there. That's why love, passion, and friendship are able to exist for us. You know this. And when people get nervous, they have different ways of expressing it. Bella, for example, used to blush every time she got nervous." He smiled, remembering.

"I wouldn't mind blushing. When I get nervous, I insult the person. Dad, you should've seen the hurt in his eyes. It was unbearable." I started taking deep breaths.

"You mean this Nate? Speaking of which, tell me more about him." I looked at Dad. His eyes were burning with curiosity though he looked completely indifferent to the subject.

"I don't know. I spoke to him once. And I probably never will again." I wanted to cry. I wanted to cry and sob and do anything it took feel better again.

"This is why you were so upset back at the house? Because of Nate?" he asked. I nodded. He smiled.

"That's good then. Bella was really worried you were mad at her."

"She knows I didn't mean anything I said, right? Not a single word. I know how important it is for us to remain inconspicuous. It's just that I was already a little more than annoyed about what happened today I guess I needed a reason to vent. She's knows that, right?" I stared up at Dad. He looked like he was listening to something. Probably what was going on back at the main house.

"Well, I know she doesn't know about what happened in school. About whatever happened with Nate. But I think she knows that you're not _really _angry at her. But she's worried. She just asked Carlisle why you've been so angst-ridden lately, what with what happened just now and a couple of weeks ago when you asked if you could go to school." He looked thoughtful. I wondered.

"Why is that, though? Why have I been so angry lately? I know who I used to be. I definitely wasn't this." I gestured to myself. Dad looked like he was listening again.

"Carlisle has a guess. He can't know for sure because he's never seen anything like you. But he thinks that you're like this because you actually _are _a teenager. Not technically but your mind is. We all used to be like you are now, back when we were _real _teenagers. It's all the same. And the fact that you grow more rapidly than other humans is another reason why the angst came on so suddenly. Carlisle thinks that in a couple of months you'll start to get over this and you'll soon be like rest of us." I shuddered. A couple of months. I would have to wait _months _before I would be normal. Before I could stop hurting Nate. Because chances were, every time I saw him, I would get nervous. I couldn't stop that. And the more I got nervous, the more I would hurt.

Dad seemed to understand my thoughts because he nodded slightly. I exhaled sharply. I _hated _when he knew what I was thinking. As if I didn't have enough to worry about. Now, on top of feeling miserable, I had to find a way to stop thinking about what was making feel so miserable, therefore, not allowing me to be miserable. And right now, I refused to make that an option. Dad laughed out loud, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was listening.

"It's going to take a lot to keep me out of your head. I've had seventy-five _years _of practice. As for feeling miserable, the whole point of this attempt to talk to you is to _keep _you from feeling miserable. And I can tell that it's working because you seem irritated now, which, technically, isn't a factor of being miserable." He smiled smugly. He was enjoying himself. I glared at him for a moment before I started to laugh. It felt good, but I was suddenly mad at myself for breaking my willpower. I was _supposed _to punish myself. But I couldn't stop. Especially when Dad joined in, too. The sound of his laughter put me into hysterics. It was so contagious. I felt like a fool. And I didn't care.

When I finally calmed myself down enough to breathe, I smiled, feeling silly about my actions today. I had overreacted. What had I done wrong? I got nervous. Perfectly normal. And, yes, _maybe _I had hurt Nate's feelings. The memory of him today still stung guiltily. But it was okay. I'd just simply approach him tomorrow and apologize. And that was it. I'd never talk to him again. I would never try to be his friend again. I would never hurt his feelings like I did today again. I wasn't going to risk it. Even if his hypnotic, blue-green, oceanic, sparkling, Pacific eyes looked inviting…

"Do you think you're composed enough to go back to the house?" Dad asked, interrupting my thoughts. I immediately directed my thoughts to my family, not wanting Dad to see any more of the gory details in my personal life.

"Um, yeah. Sure. But mom's alright, right?" I asked.

"I can't tell you that. But everyone else seems to be at ease around her." He got up and opened the door for me. I sighed and walked out the door.

We ran swiftly through the forests that separate our cottage from the main house and jumped over the river that separates the forests from the main house. It was just a matter of seconds before we were entering the living room through the back doors. I wasn't surprised to find everyone was there waiting. And they didn't seem surprised to see me come back. Jacob was the only addition to my crowd who hadn't seen my performance earlier, although I wasn't surprised to see him. Jacob was always here. Mom was sitting on the couch, her head in her hands before we came but she looked up as soon as Dad and I walked in. She quietly breathed a sigh of relief and got up. Dad, as subtle as he tried to make it, nodded to let her know that everything was alright now. She smiled.

"So you got everything sorted out?" she asked me quietly. I smiled.

"Sort of. But I'm fine right now." Mom raised her hand to touch my face, as a soothing, mother-like gesture, but I stepped back. I didn't want her seeing my memories. And I knew she never intended to do that because she looked surprised when I backed away. Then she suddenly remembered. She put her hand back down and smiled.

"So, tell me about your first day. Everyone's been dying to hear about it. We just filled in Jacob." She looked at Jacob and I looked along. He was eating, naturally, but when he saw us looking, he put his food down and sat on the couch with mom.

"Yeah, Ness. Did you meet any crazy horror-movie characters yet? Maybe a zombie this time. We already have vampires and werewolves. Something new might work. How about a witch? That might be better than zombies. At least one of them could be attractive. Zombies, well, you know. Them being all crumbly, and old, and, well…dead." I laughed.

"Jake!" my mother scolded, laughing at the same time.

"Well, it's true!" Jacob exclaimed. He smiled. It was a ray of sunshine that, just for a moment, put all my worries about Nate out of my head.

"No, no zombies or witches. I'll even tell you right now that I didn't meet Bigfoot" I said, shrugging my shoulders and smiling. Jacob huffed with mock disappointment.

"Bummer. Just normal humans then? Jeez, what has the world been coming to these days? Well, what about friends? Did you make any? Did you meet any guys? 'Cause if you did, you know I'm gonna kick their---"

"Jake!" Mom scolded, this time not laughing. She looked at me a smiled.

"Well, did you make friends?"

I proceeded to tell everyone about my day. I told them about Alex Michelle. I made it a point to tell everyone about Michelle's texting problem. I told them about Natty, Tasha, and Sam, the three girls that Michelle pretended were her friends. I told them about all my classes. Mom had a great interest in my book list; she was an avid reader, especially in the classics, though we weren't reading any classics this year. I mentioned Nate in passing when I talked about my Geometry class but that was all I said about him. I saw Uncle Jasper's face animate slightly when I said Nate's name. He obviously felt the emotions that _I _felt for him when I said his name using his extra ability. I _really _hated vampires sometimes. Dad chuckled under his breath.

"What?" Mom asked, curious.

"Nothing. Just remembering something," he said casually. Mom didn't push. When I finally finished, ending with the interview with Alex, Mom lowered her voice.

"Do you want to talk about what made you upset today?" Her eyes burned with curiosity and I found myself wanting to tell her even though I knew exactly what she would say. But I looked around and saw everyone staring at me. I didn't want an audience when I talked about this.

"Not right now," I said. Again, Mom didn't push.

I knew exactly what I was going to do tomorrow when I saw Nate. I was going to apologize and that was it. It was easy. It _sounded _easy. But why was I nervous? And maybe even…excited?


	6. Chapter 5

_I'm so sorry it took so long for this chapter to come. I had a severe case of writer's block and a lot of school work. Thankfully, the end of the school year is approaching and I'll have more time to write. 4th marking period is always the easiest of the year. So please enjoy this chapter. I'm not sure how long it'll take to upload Chapter 6 because I just finished writing Chapter 5 last night. But please enjoy and REVIEW!!!! _

**Chapter 5**

I walked into school the next day feeling determined. My misery had worn off and I was just as normal, however normal could be interpreted, as I had been when I walked into school yesterday. My eyes searched every inch if the hallway was facing. There were kids by the lockers, kids by the water fountains, and kids just waiting in the middle of the hallway. He was no where.

Feeling frustrated, I walked to the cafeteria, where everyone hung out before class started. I found Michelle sitting at a table alone. Texting. Honestly, I didn't see how it was possible that she knew so many people that it made her phone buzz constantly. Michelle saw me and waved me over. I walked over slowly, simultaneously searching the cafeteria. I sat down with Michelle. She immediately started talking.

"Ok, so I've decided something," she said. She waited for me to respond. I was still looking for him. When I felt her staring at me, I looked at her. Her eyes were wide, waiting.

"Huh?" I said stupidly. She groaned.

"I _said_, I've decided something," she repeated.

"What've you decided?" I asked, looking around the cafeteria again.

"You seriously need a cell phone." I turned to look at her face, just to make sure she was joking. She was dead serious. So I started to giggle. She huffed. I shook my head while still laughing.

"That's your big decision?" I asked in between giggles. She frowned at me.

"It's true though! All of yesterday, I wanted to call you and ask you about that interview with Alex. And I wanted to know who was in your new math class. But I couldn't. Because you don't have a phone!"

"Well, you could've called me at home. You can get my number from the office, you know." She started to look uncomfortable.

"What?" I asked. She shifted in her seat.

"Well, I did get your number. And I did call. But someone else picked up the phone. And then I hung up." I looked at her.

"Um, you do remember I live in a house with eight other people, right? Someone else always picks up the phone."

"Yeah, but I choked."

I laughed once. I started to look again. From the corner of my eye I saw the doors open. My stomach immediately started to flutter as I anticipated his arrival. But it was only Alex. He started to come our way. I sighed. Where was he?

"Hey Carlie," he said, sitting next to me. He looked at Michelle, who was looking at her phone again. "Cretin"

"Dweeb," she answered back indifferently.

"What's a dweeb?"

"Someone who uses the word 'cretin'." Alex ignored the comment and looked at me. I was still scanning the cafeteria though not as obsessively.

"So what are we talking about?" he asked. He seemed to ask that a lot as a conversation starter. Or continuer.

"Michelle wants me to get a cell phone," I said distractedly.

"Oh, I've got one." He pulled out a sleek, black, touch-screen Blackberry. "The Zeus of all interactive phones. I can access internet, email, texting, games, TV, _anything_. It's like a computer in my hand!"

I looked at it. It looked fairly simple. There were only two buttons on the phone, one with a red phone on it and one with a green. I looked around the cafeteria. Everyone had some sort of cellular device near them or with them. Still, I was fully convinced I didn't need one. Mom absolutely made sure I was raised that way. Dad kept trying to convince me to get one. But the thing was, while Mom didn't want throw away money for something she was completely sure she didn't need, I didn't want a mechanical device dominating my life. Two days with Michelle was enough to know that it could happen. Plus, I've seen movies, TV shows, documentaries, etc. Dating over texting and instant messaging, never saying anything to other people's faces, hiding behind words; it was all very frightening to me. I definitely didn't want that.

"Looks nice," I said. I glanced towards the door again. _Finally_. Nate walked through the door, decked out in a Forks High School varsity basketball jacket and jeans. A bunch of other guys, also wearing varsity jackets, followed behind him, acting, like all high school boys, moronic. They punched each other, laughed, and bonded in a fraternal kind of way. Nate smiled and laughed, occasionally saying something that made all the guys laugh.

As the group got closer to our table, Nate caught my eye. How could he not? I was staring at him the whole time. For maybe a second longer than what was considered normal, we stared. His ocean blue eyes pierced through my body again and I felt the same rush of adrenaline I felt the first time I saw him. It was quickly followed by the sting I felt all of yesterday.

_Guilt_.

That one extra second made me rethink my plan to apologize. I wanted to. I _needed _to. But I couldn't face him. I could _never _face him. I couldn't handle it. And I didn't understand why.

As he broke his gaze from mine and swiftly turned his head to talk to someone behind him, I noticed something swing from his neck. It was a necklace. The pendant was small brownish, coral shell. It was strange. I had seen guys wear shark-tooth necklaces. It was either that or nothing at all. But the shell, strange as the concept was, suited him nicely. I could tell it wasn't just an accessory. It had meaning. I thought back to our conversation yesterday, searching for a reason he would wear a shell.

_I loved shells. They reminded me of snowflakes. But warmer. _

That was it. It was a reminder of California, the state he loved so much. I smiled. And I was still staring at him, even after he sat down at the table he sat at every morning. Michelle whacked my arm and Alex pulled me to face him. Michelle took his place instead.

"_Why _do you keep doing that?" she asked, looking at me like I was crazy. I put on my best innocent face.

"Do what?" I asked, feigning confusion.

"_That_. That whole bit where you stare at Nate like a stalker or something." She shook her head.

"Nate? Who's Nate? The guy sitting over there?" I asked, still, for some reason, acting confused. Michelle was smart. She didn't buy it.

"Don't give me that crap. I showed him to you yesterday. And I know he sits next to you in math." I looked at her, one eyebrow raised. She sniffed.

"Well, I'm not stupid. Besides, his friend told me."

"Over text?"

"What's wrong with that?" As if on cue, her phone buzzed. I sighed and started at the table. Alex laid his hand on my shoulder.

"You sure there isn't anything going on?" he asked quietly. My head snapped up and stared at him with wide eyes. I heard Michelle's phone drop with a thud as she looked at me with amazement.

"What?" I almost screeched.

"Are you serious?" Michelle gasped.

"No! Of course not! I've known him for less than twenty-four hours. How is that even _possible_?" My glare must have been murderous because Alex backtracked immediately.

"No! That's not what I meant. Well, that was kind of what I meant, but not entirely! What I meant to say was, why are you so preoccupied with him?" My face softened. I heard Alex breathe a soft sigh of relief. I intertwined my fingers before I spoke.

"I was kind of mean to him yesterday and now the guilt is eating at me." Michelle raised her eyebrows.

"Why were you mean? I can't imagine him being mean to you." Words started to flow out of my mouth.

"I-I didn't mean to! I got nervous. I choked! I don't know. He was being completely friendly and I blew it! It was like someone was talking for me. It wasn't even me! It was someone else. Someone who clearly likes to watch me suffer." I could only imagine how ridiculous I looked. My eyes were probably much too bright and my cheeks were no doubt, flaming red.

"What did you say?" she asked.

"I told him that it was stupid he didn't mind the rain and that he was pathetic because his mom helped him adjust here. It was _awful_." My head was spinning with guilt. And then Michelle started to laugh. I glared her. The expression 'if looks could kill' came to mind. I felt my whole face flame up. Michelle, still laughing, put her hands up.

"Ok, ok, chill. Look, I know you're hurting right now but trust me. Whatever you said is not that bad. I mean, whatever. We're in high school. We're programmed to say stupid things. Besides, you should be proud. You got more out of him than I ever did, even when we were dating." My heart screeched to a stop. And my eyes grew wide.

_Dated_?

"You dated?" I asked, more awe in my voice than was necessary. She giggled a little.

"Not for long. You remember what I told you about him, right? He's only been with a handful of girls and only for a couple of weeks at the most."

"But you didn't tell me that _you _were in that handful!" She giggled again.

"I didn't think I needed to. It was only for three weeks but it was the best three weeks of my life. That guy really knows how to treat a girl. I was devastated when he broke up me. _He _broke up _me_. I've never been dumped before. And he did it so sweetly. I wasn't upset because I was dumped. I think it was because it was the end to the most amazing time of my life. But, like all ex-boyfriends, you just have to get over them. We say hi when we see each other in the hallway. So at least I still have a friend in him."

She waved to someone ever my shoulder. I turned around. Nate was waving back. But the minute he caught my eye he looked away faster than lightning hits the ground. I felt a little bit a jealously towards Michelle. She had a friend in him. That was the only thing I _wanted _in him. And I couldn't even do that.

"Michelle, I can't talk to him. I mean, I want to. I have to apologize. The guilt will eat at me for forever if I don't. But I'm pretty sure that if I try to talk to him again I'll say something awful again."

"Well, what makes you so nervous about him? I mean, besides the obvious," asked Michelle.

"The obvious," I said. Michelle laughed.

"Ok, here's what you do. When he talks to you, wait about two to three seconds before you answer back. That'll give you enough time to kind of arrange your thoughts. That way, you have control over what you're saying and words don't come spilling out. And if that doesn't work and you're still feeling overwhelmed, look at the ground for a couple of seconds to clear your head. Then look back up at him. You got that?"

"Sort of?" I offered. Alex clicked his tongue three times.

"Wow, you girls take way too much into consideration. Carlie, listen to me. Nate is just a normal guy, not Elvis. He's not one for making people nervous. At least, not until you get to know him. He's just like me in a way. And you don't see girls swooning at the sight of me."

"And that's a real puzzler, isn't it?" Michelle remarked sarcastically. Alex rolled his eyes and ignored her.

"What I'm _trying_ to say is that he's not that different from the rest of us except for the fact that he may be a little bit better-looking."

"A _little_? Compared to _you_?" Michelle gasped.

"Michelle, don't be mean. He's just trying to help," I said.

"It's fine. You learn how to make her sound like a buzzing noise after a while. Anyway, if it helps at all, try talking to him like you talk to me. If you try to be his friend, he will reciprocate. That's just how it is with some guys, especially Nate."

"How do you know so much about him?" I asked.

"We used to be best friends when he first moved here. Inseparable. We still are but I'm no jock and those are the type of guys he hangs out with now. It's just the way high school works. You'd think I'd resent him or something but I don't because he's not a jerk like the rest of those guys. And it's not like we never speak. Nate likes keeping his ties. We hang out a couple of weekends or so." I sighed.

"Great. My best friend went out with him, my other best friend is his best friend, and I have successfully hurt him and my chances of ever being friends with him. At least I completed this circle."

"Don't be like that, Carlie. Honestly, you've been here for two days. You don't need to overreact so much. During your Geometry class, just say you're sorry and see what happens. If it doesn't go well then what more can you do?"

He was right. What more _could _I do? I couldn't force people to like me. And if I permanently blew my chances with Nate, I had nothing more to say. I had friends. My life shouldn't be about pleasing him. The bell rang and it was time to go to my first class.

"C'mon, Carlie. Let's get to class. And don't think about it too much. It'll be alright," Alex said consolingly. Alex led the way to Chemistry while Michelle and I followed. I found out the day before during English that Michelle was also in my Chemistry class. I just hadn't noticed her.

Chemistry dragged on for what seemed like centuries. Binary naming of compounds. That's what we were learning about today. _A compound consists of a metal and a nonmetal. When naming a compound, first put the name of the metal. Then put the name of the nonmetal, replacing the ending with –ide. _So much for learning something new. I knew this! The benefits of living with a family who all had a degree in some kind of science.

When the bell rang, Michelle and I went to English. There, I suffered another hour listening to Ms. Tassel talk about _The Glass Castle _author's struggles in life. I couldn't understand why she had to explain it to us when all the information was written clearly in the book. It was an autobiography, after all.

Lunch was horrible because I had an ample amount of free time to let my mind wander. And normally, my mind would wander to Nate. What would I say to him next period? I was filled with anticipation. Michelle and Alex left me to my thoughts, opting not to get involved at this stage. I refused to let myself look at Nate. He was just a couple of tables away. So close that I could just barely hear his boyish voice over the talk and laughter of over 150 students. It was excruciatingly difficult but I had enough self-discipline.

Finally, when the bell rang, I said a quick goodbye to Michelle and Alex and sprinted to my Geometry class. Forks High School had a five minute class change period. Students had five minutes to get from one class to another. Most students would wait until that last minute before they started flooding into classrooms. Since I sprinted, I made it to my class in just a matter of seconds. I was probably the first one there. I would just take my seat and wait for people to come. When Nate came, I would just briefly apologize, explain why I had done what I did, and hope he would forgive me.

When I entered the classroom, who would I find but Nate Coleman, abnormally early and talking to Ms. Vanderwell. When he saw me he immediately looked at the ground. I blushed. Ms. Vanderwell, who seemed to be taking our reactions a different way, gave Nate a knowing smile and excused herself for a few minutes. Nate and I stood, both looking at the ground, awkwardly silent. Finally Nate spoke.

"She thinks we're an item," he said quietly.

"What?" I asked stupidly, knowing exactly what he said.

"She thinks we're an item. You know. Like, _together_."

"Oh. Well we're not, obviously. But, um, I did need to talk to you privately. And from the two days I've been here, that seemed increasingly difficult." I finally looked at him. He was staring at me. His hair obscured his eyes but I could still see them. They were sparkling, filled with curiosity. I immediately looked back at the floor. I couldn't handle it yet.

"What did you want to talk about?" he asked softly. I took a deep breath.

"I, well, I wanted to apologize. For yesterday. I didn't mean a word a said. I hope you know that. And if you didn't know that, well, you know now. Because I just told you. Well, I mean, obviously you couldn't have known that because you barely know me. But I told you. So it's engrained in your brain now. I didn't mean a word I said yesterday." I was starting to blabber. I took another deep breath, trying to clear my head. I waited for Nate to say something.

"Well, um, it's good that you didn't mean any of it. It really hurt, you know? I don't know why, considering it wasn't all that bad. But I do want to know. Why did you say it?"

"I got nervous. I don't know what happened. I guess, you know, new school, new town, new friends. It's all extremely overwhelming. To tell you the truth actually, I love that you and your mom have a special bond over the rain. And I don't see anything wrong with needing help adjusting to a new place. Honestly, I don't see how anyone could do that alone. Especially here." I looked up and smiled. He smiled back. It was breathtaking and I wanted to hurt myself for taking that smile away from him, even for a brief period of time.

"So should we start over?" he asked.

"I really think we should," I said. He walked over to me and stuck out his hand.

"Hi. My name is Nate Coleman. Welcome to Forks High School. What's your name?" I smiled.

"Hi Nate. My name is Carlie Tal----Cullen."

"You're taking on the Cullen name now?" Nate asked.

"Yeah. I'm their family. I think it's time to let the past go." I would tell the rest of my family when I got home. Nate let go of my hand.

"So Carlie, tell me something about yourself." I was about to answer when I heard Ms. Vanderwell and the rest of our class approaching.

"I'd love to but I think class is starting soon. I'll tell you one thing, though."

"What?"

"I really like your necklace." Nate beamed as he picked up the shell hanging from his neck.

"There's a story for this, you know."

"I'd love to hear it."

"Great. Tomorrow at lunch, then." Just then our class walked in. Ms. Vanderwell seemed to be yelling.

"…cannot _believe _you'd even consider doing this! Who _does _that? Especially inside! Why would you even try to make a can of Coke explode with Mentos?"

"Well, it was raining outside and none of us wanted to get wet and Dan saw this really cool video on the Internet and we just wanted to try."

"Enough Will! How old are you? Sixteen? Isn't it common sense not to blow up anything in school?

"Mr. Lansics does it all the time in his class," muttered Dan.

"Not in the middle of the hallway! And when he does it's in a controlled area. And the rest of you!" Ms. Vanderwell turned on the rest of the class. "Was that worth detention this Saturday morning for coming late to class?" The class groaned.

"Ms. Vanderwell, really?" Will whined.

"Don't even start with me, Will. You and Dan will be serving detention everyday after school for two weeks _including_ Saturday morning. I want you all here by eight A.M. on Saturday morning except for Nate and Carlie, who were already here. No exceptions."

The rest of class was silent book work due to Ms. Vanderwell's aggravated mood. But I didn't mind. I had a lunch date with Nate the next day.


	7. UPDATE!

So I know everyone hates these but it's necessary. I've half-written the next chapter of Moon Rose but I've gotten inspiration for another story about Bella at college (which I know is totally not original but I love those kinds of stories). I'm not giving up on Moon Rose but I may not update for awhile. And I know it's unfair to those of you who really want to see where Nessie and Nate go and where Jacob will stand. Your reviews make me happy and I love getting them. So, to keep from keeping you guys too long I've decided to hold a contest. I got this idea from another story I was reading in which the author is doing the same thing. You have a chance to keep the story of Moon Rose going. If you want to write the next chapter, please do the following:

-PM me to let me know you are interested

-I will give you my email address (please don't spam it)

-Email me your draft

These are the requirements for the chapter:

-NO LEMONS. This is a K+ story

-No kiss. Nessie and Nate aren't ready to have their first kiss yet.

-You must come up with a good story about Nate's necklace. This will be a huge aspect -of the chapter and what I will be looking most at.

-Must be at least 8 pages on a Microsoft Word document or any word processor that separates by pages. I'm thinking about 3,000-5,000 words. I'll be flexible if the chapter is good enough.

-It must be sweet and endearing, especially the times Nate and Nessie are together unless they get into a fight or something.

-BE CREATIVE. Have fun! There can be unexpected twists, secrets, a cliff hanger, etc. That's the fun of writing. Starting with something and then seeing where your imagination will take it. I believe the best writing is the kind that isn't planned.

I will wait until I have at least 5 entries before I start judging. I will let you all know when I have 5. Then I will give a week for anyone else who wants to enter. At the same time I will be judging. But you should expect the chapter or an update 1-2 weeks after the first update. If I feel none of the chapters are adequate, I will let you all know. If anyone has any questions or needs an opinion about something then please don't hesitate to PM me.

I hope you guys can save this story. It really is a story that can go somewhere. It's original and interesting. I don't think there's a story like this on Fanfic. Well, that's being cocky but you know what I mean. I really hope you can do some good for this and who knows? Maybe it'll give me the inspiration I need to continue the story with the same enthusiasm I had when I started it. And maybe I'll even ask the winner to co-write the story with me. It's all in your hands now guys. Make me proud. :D


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